Composition of matter.



Composition of Matter,

UNITED STATES. rarnrrr Enron.

ROBERT D. POWERS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 UNION CLAY PRODUCTS COMPANY, .A. CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

COMPOSITION OF MATTER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be'itknown that l, ltom-zn'r D. Pownns, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of N cw York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is a composition which is adapted for use as a waterproof coating or layer, is further capable of being molded to different forms to produce vessels and articles of a character to hold or resist the action of liquids, .and'

which is a non-conductor of electricity and therefore available for insulating, all as fully set forth hereinafter.

The basis of my composition is clay combined with sulfur and found in nature in what is known as Long Island blue clay which, as described in the Technology Quarterly, published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, volume 18 of 1900, is a blue. clay, distinctlycarbonaceous and characterizedby carbonized wood or lignite and both disseminated and nodular sulfid of iron.

I 'have found that a mixture of clay and sulfur when combined with a small percentage of oxidizable oil will, when heated, result in vulcanizing the oil and the composition as a whole will, at ordinary temperatures, be a permanent, solid, coherent and water-repellent mass, which by heat may be softened or liquefied, so as to be applied as a coating, or rolled, pressed or molded into difierent forms.

In the manufacture f thevmaterial, I take a certain proportion of the blue clay, or clay and sulfur, dry and pulverize the same, so as to run through an SO-mesh sieve,

heat the same to a temperature that will cause the sulfur to begin 'to volatilize (say from 400 to 450 Fahrenheit), and then While stirring the mass add gradually thereto the oil, as linseed oil, rosin oil, cottonseed oil, etc.',say, .in the proportion of from three to twenty per cent. by weight, of the weight of clay,the proportlon of oil dependingpartly on the amount of sulfid in the mixture, and partly upon the desired hardness of the material to be produced, the hardness increasing as the amount ofoil is reduced,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 11, 1910. Renewed September 27, 1909. Serial and the increase of temperature at which the composition is made. When the oil is thus added at the temperature at which the sulfur is disassociated from the iron, the sulfur is found to act on the oil with a vulcanizing effect, and asthesulfid of iron is most intimately distributed throughoutthe mass, the vulcanizing of the oil acts to bind together all the'particles of the mass and produce a composition of matter which at ordinary temperatures is hard, coherent, solid, and which is water-re )ellent and water and acid resistant in a high degree; in factwill absorb less water than celluloid and hard vulcanized rubber, and which is also in a high degree a non-conductor of electricity.

This-composition may be softened by heatto such an extent that it may be applied by a brush or trowel as a wall coating to protect concrete structures, or to coat walls to prevent the passage or absorption of moisture, or the material may be rolled into sheets of any desired thickness whilesoft, then tacked to the'wall or other surface, and then softened by rolling with a hot roller, or passing a hot iron over the same. In either case the material has the capacity of adhering firmly to masonry even if the latter is damp, and when applied is practically indestructible by the weather. The material while soft may be poured or pressed into molds an thus formed into vessels adapted to receive liquids, and such vessels are of an extremely durable character and while strong are also tough and elastic. The material is an excellent non-conductor .of electricity and may be effectively used for insulating purposes. Made as above described the material is black in color owing to the presence of the iron in the blue clay. By a preliminary treatment of the clay with a sultable acid, as nitric acid, the iron forms with the acid a solution which may be washed away, but

the sulfur will remain and the composition may be then produced as before but will be of a light gray color. If desired other colors may then be imparted by the addition of suitable mineral oxids.

By adding a metallic. sulfid or sulfur to ordinary clay and treating the mixture as aforesaid acomposition is produced having the characteristics specified.

WVithout limiting myself to the propor- I bined with oil, the latter being vulcanized tions and treatment set forth, I claim: by the sulfur and the clay being in a pro- 1. The within described new composition portion in excess of the other ingredient. of matter capable of being rendered fluid by In testimony whereof I affix my signature 5 heat, consisting of clay, sulfur and oil, the in presence of two witnesses.

latter bein vulcanized by the sulfur and the clay being in a proportion in excess of ROBERT that of the other material. Witnesses:

2. The Within described new composition, JOHN G. GRAY,

10 consisting of clay containing sulfur com- EDWIN TAYLOR. 

